Copper theft now an "epidemic," says state rep.

Brooke Cru, Beaumont Enterprise

By Brooke Crum

Published 8:50 am, Monday, September 30, 2013

The high cost of scrap metals has materials like copper being stolen from churches and business in recent months. Scrap metal dealer Mel Wright, shown, reports material that he believes to be stolen.
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise
Photo: Guiseppe Barranco

Mel Wright, owner of Wright's Scrap Metal in Beaumont, most likely would not be able to tell if someone tried to sell his own copper wiring back to him.

Distinguishing between new and recycled copper is difficult if not impossible, Wright said. How do you prosecute the theft of an object you can't identify?

That isn't the only problem with solving the region's recent rash of copper wire thefts. Limp penalties, little prosecution and a lack of jurisdictional leadership have not helped curtail the thefts, said Tom Baker, president of the Recycling Council of Texas, a recycling lobbyist organization.

Beaumont ISD schools have been robbed eight times this summer by copper thieves. Two campuses, Paul A. Brown Alternative School and Martin Elementary School, have been hit twice. Martin went without air conditioning for almost four hours Tuesday after two copper thieves stole about 200 feet of copper wire from an air conditioner.

The thefts are not exclusive to Beaumont. Copper thieves also struck West Orange-Stark Elementary School on Sept. 9, leaving the school without air conditioning for several hours. Tyrrell Elementary School in Port Arthur was hit a couple of weeks ago, as well, necessitating $5,500 in repairs, said Mark Rouly, regulatory compliance manager with Port Arthur ISD.

"I guess we can call it an epidemic now," said state Rep. Allan Ritter, R-Nederland, also president of a the Ritter At-Home home improvement company.

Copper thefts have been on the rise since 2004 when the price of copper spiked, Baker said. He has been in the industry for 44 years and never saw copper prices top $1 per pound before then. Now the price is about $3 to $4 a pound, he said.

The metal is so valuable because copper can be used to conduct electricity, Wright said. It is used in computer and cellphone circuit boards as well as air conditioners and other electrical systems.

In 2012, scrap dealers in the United States processed 2 million metric tons of copper, a scrap recycling institute reported. A metric ton is 2,204 pounds. At $3 per pound, that much copper is worth an estimated $13.2 billion.

The National Insurance Crime Bureau, which tracks metal thefts, reported 25,083 claims filed from 2009 to 2012, compared with 13,861 from 2006 to 2008. Nearly 96 percent of the claims in the more recent period were for copper theft.

The five leading states for the thefts are Ohio, Texas, Georgia, California and Illinois, according to the NICB.

The closing market price for mined copper on Friday was $332.95 per pound, according to Bloomberg.com.